Kathy Maher — who has taught for 32 years, 13 of them at Savannah Arts — was looking for a fun project for her 12th-grade zoology students, and the grass and pavement area surrounded by the brick walls of the school seemed a good place to start.

“I said, ‘You have to create a habitat,’” Maher said. “‘What would live out here? What do we want to encourage to live out here?’”

The students suggested a small pond as the first endeavor but quickly wondered what they had gotten themselves into.

“We didn’t really realize how much work it was going to be when we signed up for it,” said student Jena Williams. They toughed it out, though, and even collected donated plants to landscape around it.

But the woodland-themed outdoor classroom area needed seating, so a call to International Paper led them to communications manager Karen Bogans.

“We get a lot of requests at the mill,” Bogans said, “but this was by far the most unusual.”

Maher’s class wanted tree stumps — and a lot of them. It would be tricky to get results from the paper company’s Global Sourcing Department long enough before the end of the school year, but Bogans said she’d try.

And she came through.

Just in time, Zach Johnson of Beasley Forest Products brought 30 cedar stumps from Hazelhurst to Savannah, and the students were pleased to see their vision take shape.

Meanwhile, a quest for chickens formed an odd partnership between Maher and Savannah Arts school nurse Patricia Norton. Norton had seen some dumped Bantam chickens over at Daffin Park, and the two politely inquired with Recreation Services whether they might catch them and give them a good home.

It involved a lot of running and sweating.

“There were 12 baby chicks and a mama,” Norton said, “and we only managed to snag three.”

The students, however, learned the hard way that hawks take their meals where they can find them — even if that means at a local school. A make-shift roof was added to the chicken enclosure.

Next, some Rhode Island reds and Polish chickens were brought in from Richmond Hill by parent Tanja Coon, whose daughter Kaleigh just finished ninth grade. During the school year, eggs are collected daily from birds boasting famous names like Oprah, Betty White and Paula Deen.

The courtyard got a lot of attention, and that pleased the students who will continue to work hard on it from year to year.

“I think each class will have something to add,” said student Nick Tatum.

“We’ve had a wonderful response from faculty,” Maher added.

Her hope is to further improve the space with money from a grant proposal she’s writing.